Just a few days ago an old colleague of mine asked me what my #1 tip would be for someone who had recently started running and was now aiming at half and full marathon distances.
My response was pretty brief and I’ll share it here and elaborate on it a bit further.
The #1 advice to endurance athletes is:
Don’t get injured!! Whatever you do, train smart, don’t overdo things and through that, avoid injury!
You’ll likely want superman (or -woman) fitness and strength, run a marathon, do an ironman, and all that very quickly – but especially in endurance sports things take time.
Instead you will want to take it slow. If you can slowly build your endurance and keep on building then that really long race you want to be able to do will eventually happen.
Personally I didn’t always know this. I would sign up for races in the way to near future and try to do them being semi fit for the event, injuring myself either during training or during the race.
Since the beginning of 2010 I try to go about my build-up in a different way. I try to follow some basic rules that will leave me free of injury:
- never add more than 10% to individual runs. Another version of this rule says you shouldn’t add more than 10% to weekly running volume and some even go on to work with months and quarters.
- if you feel pain, never try to push through it. You might just be making things worse. Yesterday was such a day for me in the pool. I had to back off from getting better 50m swim time as my left shoulder started hurting. That swim was ended about 15 minutes early to avoid injury.
- avoid going all out in sports your muscles are not used to. This goes for cross-training, gym sessions etc. which are part of your training plan, but also for the occasional game of football with your colleagues.
- if you train or race with someone else who’s above your level – get them to perform at your level. Don’t try (too hard) to follow theirs as that could well be too much for you.
Following these rules has served me well so far. Only had few minor injuries over the past 12 months and every time they’ve been a result of not adhering to the rules outlined above.
Train hard, but train smart!
Comments 2
This is just very good advice. Especially since we are not 20 years old any more, our bodys wont allow us to take the same approach to these things. Better to train less hard than not train because of an injury.
Another lesson that I teach myself way to often in praxis is – don’t do weeks (or months) without training. It will set you back a LOT.
Better to maintain your fitness level by doing a little bit of training. Then you will be able to return to your previous level much easier when your motivation returns. Getting back at it after a period without training is just another very good way to get an injury.
/Mads
Author
Hey, that’s an excellent tip right there. Thanks for the comment. Maybe I need to do a separate post the benefits of being consistent vs. taking breaks in training.